Omaha daily bee., 1887-05-08

It's English, You Know-.Scnator
Thurman's Aversion to Begging
Servants--How to Rem
edy the Evil.
The practice of tipping, or giving
gratuities to hotel porters, restaurant
and hotel walters, and other servants,
writes James @. Howard, of the Forum
for May, is of comparatively recent in
PRODUCTION into the United States. Some
eighteen or twenty years ago. when our
fopplsh young men about town began to
make trips abroad, it was observed, on
their return home, that they had adopted
foreign accents, infections, atfectations,
and especially that they aped everything
English. Tipping was at that time, rs
now, an established custom III England,
rs we'll as throughout Eu rope and Asia,
and acres of palms, itching fer coin,
were outstretched by mendicant host,
ranging from the laced major-domos of
gorgeous palaces and the liveried
beadles in great cathedrals,
down to tho beggars of India
and Egypt, and the lazzaroni of Naples.
So universal was the custom that it went
far to justify the sarcasm of Senator
Thurman, who, when asked If he had
met Prince Bismarck, replied he was ex.
tremely sorry he had not, because he did
want to meet one person in Europe who
was not waiting for him to hand over a
shilling!
When tipping was first introduced at
Delmonico's, by some of the travelling
fops, the astonshed walters did not know
what to think of it. The more manly
attendants were inclined to resent the
seeming attempt to buy or brbe them,
while others were disposed to pocket the
gratuity. with the reflection that the
donor must have little too much"
But the men of fashion, who are usually
the men of fortune, soon made it known
tice rapidly spread from the fashionable
restaurants and hotels to the second,
third, and fourth-rate places. While the
abuse has not yet become so universal
as here IN older countries, it is spreading
apace. Guests are not expected to pre-
sent gratuities only to walters and cooks,
to porters, chambermaids, bell boys and
bootblocks, to ianltors, ,baggage.checkers
trunk handlers at railway stations, and
bers receive extras, varying from dime
to dollar, from nObs and nabobs; soon
they will be demanding like treatment
from all. Before inquiring where the
evil will end, let us ascertain precisely
what the evil is.
The practice Of exacting tips is lnde-
fensible from every point of view. The
bill of fare at a restaurant sets forth a
scale of prices for the articles of food or
refreshment supplied, and, as a rule,
these prices are high enough, heaven
knows. and are steadily increased from
year to year. in the face of the fact that
provisions of all kinds have been declin-
ing for long time. The profit on thirty
different articles of food, chiefly vegeta-
New York, is found upon investigation to
range from three hundred to nine hun
dred per cent. The patron consents to
pay this profit on his lettuce, beans, or
corn, and he finds that he is also eX-
pected to pay twenty or twenty-five per
cent more to the servant who brings him
the vegetables.
II one were expected to pay extra only
for extra ciyility or special intelligence,
there might be some excuse for the system.
But this is not all the ground on which
the practice rests. You are expected
| to reward alike civllity and incivity. to
| pay handsomely for both intelligence
and stupidity, and to be equally liberal
| to courtsy and insOlence. II your waiter
brings you tainted meat or stale veget-
ables he looks for the same douceur as if
some food. If the tip Is not forthcoming,
his insoence is shown as long as you re-
man, and it you return he will either re.
| fuse to wait on you, or serve you worse
than before. Between cooks and walters
there is always perfect understanding
as to the treatment that favored or OBJ
noxious guests shall receive, for the rea-
son that the tips are divided between
them. The spendthrift, however worth
less, who wastes the most money on
them, gets the best entertainment the
place can afford, while the provident
patron, paying the same high rates, If
not lavish with his money, must put up
with the smallest and meanest portions
that can be served. One of the most
distinguished members of the United
States senate has frequently, it
is said, been insulted and reviled, be
cause of his habitual refusal to submit to
this iniquitous tax.
AT hotels on the American plan, where
the charges are 81 or 8 day, or so per
cent higher than when provisions were
so per cent dearer, the guest is expected
to add dollar or so a day IN the form OF
gratuities, TO the exorbitant published
rates. Now, the guests should either pay
the servants all their wages, or pay none.
Their employer, the landlord, should
properly compensate all his employees
for their services, or saddle their entire
support upon his patrons. There is nc
logic and no sense in dividing their sup
port between their employer and the per.
sons they serve. At some hotels porters
and about "a day or $la(
n month from the ,,ueSts In the n, n, AZ